8-bit changed, but for the better in my opinion. All that energy you loved from the beginning is still there, in my opinion, but it’s increased in it’s impact. Take the authority figures for example. In the beginning you had Steve, Garland and Bikke. All have the wit and cunning of turnips, and are somewhat malicious, save Garland, and the Light Warriors must suffer through their ineptitude for humor’s sake. By the 600s though, things are different, the LWs have come too far and, frankly, are too damn evil for listening to yet another moron say something stupid. Now they have Sarda, who actively acts like a moron just so he can wait for someone to act superior to them to give him an excuse to hurt them, which is funny, or just hurt them for no reason, which is hilarious. Sure, there were more “serious” events later on, but all were followed by an anti-climax which parodied the seriousness. When Black Mage dies, he temporarily becomes the leader of hell. Black Belt’s whole heroic speech about potential is punctuated by the fact that he died accomplishing NOTHING.

Like Mel Brook said: “If I got a paper cut, that’s a tragedy. If you fell down an open manhole and died, that’s comedy.”